Timberman 70.3 Race Report

This race is always a fun one for me.  Last year it was my first Pro race, and I knew my fitness coming in was a lot better this year.  It's also a race I get to do with a lot of friends.  For the second straight year I stayed in a house for 4 nights with a group of 4 other guys - fun group and a very chill atmosphere, perfect for a race weekend.  New this year was the fact that four of my athletes were also at this race, so that added to my excitement and enjoyment of the weekend.



Swim start for a practice swim

Swim - 24:39
I have been ramping up my swim over the past 3 months, and was finally starting to feel confident.  In the past couple weeks I hit some  key workouts and felt like I was swimming better than ever.  As a result I wanted to try and test my racing and drafting skills.  I knew that Andy Potts would swim away, but wanted to try and catch the group that formed after him.  The first couple hundred meters were difficult but I was soon able to settle in behind and relax into the pace.  As the swim progressed I felt more and more relaxed and excited to get on the bike.  Overall I felt more relaxed and was 1:15 faster than the previous year!

Bike - 2:31:05
My race plan coming in was to take the initial hills at Ironman effort, then build into a stronger effort on the flats.  Due to my swim, I found myself farther out front than normal.  Around mile 10 I was passed by a group of around 8 - the second pack of men and the lead women.  It was at the base of the steepest climb and I stuck to my original plan and let them bike away.  Between 14-20 miles four more passed me and I was able to adjust my effort to ride with them, keeping them in sight.  I could see them 30-60" up the road through the turnaround, where I was passed again.  Shortly after this pass I surged (at the 30 mile mark), which again had been the plan.  My HR was low, and my legs felt ok, generally, but I was having a hard time keeping my HR at the level it should be.  I was going only on HR here as my power meter had crapped out on me at the beginning of the ride...boooo!  I felt good and strong straight through the hills on the return and was ready to run.  Looking back at how I surged, after the race I was pleased with the improvement (I had a 4% negative split as opposed to most of my competitors who had around a 2% negative split - not great for me from a racing perspective, but very good with an eye to what I want to accomplish in WI and Tahoe).

heading out on the run

Run - 1:27:06
I felt ok on the run.  I just never pushed.  I've gone back and forth on this as to whether I should have "raced" better and dug deeper.  My run fitness and workouts have indicated I should be much faster in a Half than this, however, I never hit the HR levels I should for an event of this length.  In terms of recovery and racing at your highest level I think that you need to practice mental toughness; I also believe racing and mental toughness are one in the same - you need to learn to dig deep.  That said,  I'm also convinced from watching other athletes, speaking with colleagues in the coaching community and from personal experience that you can only go to the well so many times.  I simply chose not to go to that place, with the intention that I will need to dig deep in my final two races.  And while I was getting hard on myself after the race about that effort,  I realized I've dug far deeper in most of my quality workouts over the past few weeks.  Hopefully that translates to my longer races.  At any rate, while the run wasn't killer fast at Timberman, it was steady and consistent and there is something to be said for that.

Total Time - 4:25:21, 12th Pro, 27th Overall



With my athlete, Lizzie Nyitray,
claiming her 70.3W.C. slot for Austria 2015

As an aside - the past year I have focused a great deal on transition, and for the most part have been very happy with the results.  Year over year I was 21" faster in T1 (there is still some work to be done there).  With the athletes I am coming out of the water, I still lost an additional 10-25" and that's time that I shouldn't be losing.  My T2 however has gone from being a liability to an advantage.  I was 42" faster than last year, and was on the faster end of the athletes I am competing against.  It didn't take much to realize these improvements - T2 is the easiest to practice - nearly every time I come in at the end of a bike ride, I practice my dismount.

Thank you to all the people who support me - my parents, friends and family, the PFC Elite Team, all my product sponsors - Perfect Fuel Chocolate for great pre-race fueling, Aquasphere for the super fast Phantom wetsuit, Quintana Roo Bikes, Gray race wheels, ISM seat, Karhu shoes, Suunto watch, Rudy Project sunglasses and helmet, Swiftwick compression socks and Champion System for their incredibly comfortable racing kits and training gear!

Motivation and Inspiration

What motivates you to train everyday?  Who inspires you?  How do you get through those 8 hour workouts?  I often field questions like these from other athletes, family and friends.  My motivation comes from a desire to make the most out of every opportunity I have.  I try and maintain 2-3 priorities that take precedence over everything else.  I constantly ask myself the question 'Will this helping me achieve my goals?'  If the answer is 'yes,' then the motivation has been provided.  It has always been much easier for me to answer the question of what motivates me, than it has been to answer who inspires me. 

The people who have inspired me, or do inspire, however have changed throughout the years, and at certain times there is not always someone who readily comes to mind.  Janet Evans was the first person I can recall inspiring me - when I was 8 years old I remember watching her swim in the Olympics and winning three gold medals; they showed footage of her dominating world record performance in the 1500m freestyle from the previous summer.  My family was incredibly fortunate to have a 40ft x 20ft in-ground pool in our backyard at that time, and I figured out how many lengths it would take to swim 1500m in that pool - I did not complete the swim, but only because my worried mother pulled me out at some point in the middle (I can only imagine how long I had been swimming at this point and what it must have looked like, as I had never been on a swim team, and when I finally did join a year and a half later, my freestyle was not very good).

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting 9-year old Skylar Mascarinas and her Dad, Chris.  They were riding in the CT Challenge, an event I have worked with for the past few years organizing support crews, mechanics, and other logistical matters.  That day I was in a sweep vehicle.  I saw them for the first time walking up a hill shortly after the 25 mile ride turn-off.  As we leap-frogged back and forth over the next few miles, we waved to each other and exchanged a few words.  Skylar was smiling, walking up the steep hills, and pedaling steadily everywhere else. 

At the first rest stop I was able to speak with them for a little bit longer before they set out.  I was held up there for a while and that was the last I saw them for the rest of the day.  I was super impressed with Skylar's tenacity at such a young age as well as Chris's patience and support and was curious as to whether they had finished the full fifty mile ride they had started - after all I had only seen them ride through 14 miles. 

After that weekend, I sent Chris an email to say how impressed I was by Skylar and to satisfy my curiosity.  They had finished!  It took them 6.5 hours.  This was actually Skylar's second year participating in the CT Challenge - she had ridden the 25 mile course as an 8-year old.  Why had Skylar done this?  A friend of the family - Bill Mahoney - had lost his battle with Pancreatic Cancer.  So for the past two years she has ridden in his memory.  Her goal this year was to raise $10,000 for the Center for Survivorship (www.ctchallenge.org) and I for one want to help her get there.  Her fundraising page is here.

For the past two and a half weeks I have been in the final training block heading into my final races of the year: Ironman Wisconsin on Sept 7th and Ironman Lake Tahoe on September 21st.  This has been the largest and most difficult block I have ever gone though.  Every time fatigue has threatened to prevent me from getting out the door, or a workout gets long and tough and I want to back off, I think about what Skylar accomplished, how long she pushed through on that day, and the selfless reasons she was out there in the first place. 

Thank you, Skylar.  You have a truly bright future ahead and I consider myself fortunate having met you.